Noodler's Questions and Fountain Pen Maintenance

Noodler's is great stuff. I've used their standard black in 150 dollar pens or so and feel easily comfortable doing so. I've got a dedicated Noodler's Konrad for Baystate Blue alone, I love the color. Different people have different risk tolerances; it's all good.

Regarding checks, it's interesting: my experience matches others on this page. Lots of credit card fraud recently, no check washing fraud whatsoever. I imagine if someone gets a hold of your check nowadays, he's more likely to get some fraud out of it by trying to use your routing number and account number as an e-check than washing the ink off the check.

I got into fountain pens for Noodler's fantastic colors, but ironically I have really been loving 'boring' colors like Lamy Black for the past few months. So I sign my checks often with an ink that basically completely washes away. No trouble yet. But I do think permanence is really cool, and I'm glad that Noodler's offers it--no objections if you like it!

I've got half a dozen Noodler's inks and have used them in a variety of pens, both new and vintage, with zero issues. I always keep at least one pen loaded with Noodler's Black or Bad Belted Kingfisher for writing checks, addressing envelopes, grocery shopping lists (the kitchen can be a wet place!). I'm not as concerned about check washing/alteration as I am about waterproofness and permanency. The Noodler's inks have easily met those concerns.